Decision Not To Close School Renews Hunt For Police Station Site

Elmhurst officials have resumed their search for a site for a new police station now that the local school board has voted not to close a junior high school for at least a year.

A closed school would have accommodated the police, alone or with other city agencies, relatively quickly, officials said. Mayor Robert Quinn said the city will look at property it owns for a station site, and planning and construction would take at least two years.

City parking lots near downtown could be used, but the prime candidate is thought to be the city garage, 200 S. West Ave., officials said.

Repairing and remodeling the current station would cost $600,000, Quinn said. He said the site, on Schiller Street across from City Hall, could be sold for about $600,000. Using the proceeds from the sale of the site and the money it would have spent on fixing up the old station, the city will spend about $1.2 million to build a station.

City Manager Thomas Borchert said a station would have to be built on the West Avenue site because no building there is suitable. And it would ``be a tight fit`` to put one there, possibly requiring relocation or consolidation of garage services, Borchert said.